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WVU eases past Seton Hall

Feb 3, 2011 - 7:46 AM Morgantown, WV (Sports Network) - Kevin Jones turned in 13 points and 12 rebounds as No. 25 West Virginia eased past Seton Hall, 56-44, at WVU Coliseum.

Cam Thoroughman, Deniz Kilicli and John Flowers added 10 points apiece for the Mountaineers (15-6, 6-3 Big East), who have won three of four.

"We've made a lot of progress defending. We've made a lot of progress rebounding the ball," said West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins, who remains frustrated by his team's offensive performance.

"We're only going to be so good offensively because we don't shoot it straight a lot of days and we can't make a play off the bounce. So we've got to do those (other) things."

Jeff Robinson scored nine points with six boards for the Pirates (10-13, 4-7), who had a two-game win streak snapped and have lost four of six. Herb Pope had eight points and seven rebounds in the setback.

West Virginia led 17-7 just over eight minutes in after Kilicli hit a jumper, and a Flowers layup made it 26-13 for the home team with 6 1/2 remaining in the first half.

Jones connected on a layup then Jeremy Hazell hit 1-of-2 from the line for Seton Hall and the Mountaineers led 33-17 at the break.

Joe Mazzulla's bucket more than three minutes into the second half boosted WVU to a 20-point edge at 37-17, then the lead grew to 42-19 on a Flowers dunk with 14:40 to play.

Thoroughman's bucket gave the Mountaineers a 53-33 edge with 4:29 to go, then Seton Hall managed to put together an 11-0 run to get within nine. It wasn't enough, as Mazzulla hit a free throw and Flowers made a pair to close out the game.

Game Notes

WVU has won 16 of 27 all-time meetings...Mazzulla finished with four points but pulled down 10 rebounds...Seton Hall shot 23 percent from the floor (6- of-26) in the first half and connected on just 29.5 percent for the game...WVU won the battle of the boards, 48-36 and won despite committing 14 turnovers.